Import Items Online

Article Contents

Upload and manage multiple items at once from the online Square Dashboard with the bulk import tool.

Export Your Library

The export process has been simplified so that a single export file includes all of your Items and Inventory across all locations.

Note: Excel (.xlsx) file format is recommended for most users. Excel format is supported by all modern spreadsheet editors including Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, and Google Spreadsheets.

Note: The Excel file template is formatted to text, not numbers. If you wish to use the exported item library file to perform number functions, you must change the file to a numbers format.

The file format has changed and now allows for more complexity in your item library with improved support for multiple locations. Before you attempt to import changes to your library it is recommended you export a new copy of your item library.

Select between Excel (.xlsx) or CSV format. A spreadsheet will then download to your computer.

Export File Field Descriptions

Token

Your Square Dashboard will automatically populate this token. If you are importing a new item, leave this field blank, if you are editing items do not change the token.

Item Name

Can include numbers, letters or symbols. Maximum 128 characters.

Description

Can include numbers, letters or symbols. Maximum 1024 characters.

Category

Can include numbers, letters or symbols. Maximum 128 characters.

SKU

Each variation should be assigned a unique SKU.

Variation Name

Can include numbers, letters or symbols. Maximum 128 characters.

Price

Numeric. must be $0.00 or greater (a fixed price needs to be a positive number). You can also leave blank or write in “Variable” to indicate a variable price.

Enabled [Your Location Name]

Yes or No. This will set your item as visible in individual locations. If you only have one location and see this column, make sure all items are set to Yes.

Current Quantity [Your Location Name]

Numeric. If you are using Inventory Management this is the current quantity of this item defined as in stock. Changes to this field are ignored on import.

New Quantity [Your Location Name]

Numeric. If you are using Inventory Management, enter your current stock count here. This count will replace any existing stock count.

Stock Alert Enabled [Your Location Name]

If you are using Inventory Management, you can set Yes or No to turn on items for inventory alerts.

Stock Alert Count [Your Location Name]

Numeric. If you are using Inventory Management, and have alerts enabled, this is the quantity at which you will be alerted.

Price [Your Location Name]

Numeric.

Tax [Your Tax Name]

If you have created a tax, set to Yes or No to apply that to the item.

Edit CSV File

Note: The following only applies if importing using a .csv file format, not Excel (.xlsx).

While you are able to import the CSV data into a spreadsheet, if your item library contains SKUs do not open the CSV file directly as some spreadsheet editors will modify your SKUs in unexpected ways. Specifically, they may remove leading 0s (ex. 0012345 will become 12345) or convert them to scientific notation (ex. 12345678999 will become 1.2346E+10).

If you have SKUs in your CSV, follow these steps to ensure there are no errors in your CSV files:

Import CSV data in Microsoft Excel

Create a new spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel.

Select File then Import from the main menu.

Select the CSV file option and click Import.

Choose the CSV file that you exported from your Item Library and click Get Data.

Your Import Wizard pop up will appear:

Click Next.

Ensure that only the “Comma” delimiter is checked, then click Next.

Scroll over to the SKU column and change the column data format to Text, then press Finish

Choose the New Sheet option and press OK to complete the import.

Import CSV data into Google Spreadsheets

Create a new spreadsheet in Google Drive.

Select File then Import from the main menu.

Select the Upload tab and choose the CSV file that you exported from your Item Library.

After the file uploads, an “Import File” popup will open. Be sure to change “Convert texts to numbers and dates” to No.

Upload Your Item Library

Select Modify Item Library to add new items and update existing items, or Replace Item Library to delete all existing items and replace them with your uploaded items.

Click Next > “Download our template file.” Select if you’d like to download the template in Excel (.xlsx), which is recommended for most users, or CSV.

Note: If you’re using Safari as your web browser, you’ll need to right-click the “Download our template” link and save the file to your computer.

Open the “catalog-YYYY-MM-DD-XXXX.xlsx or .csv” file saved to your computer in step 4 using Excel (.xlsx) or another spreadsheet program.

Note: When editing your CSV file, we recommended using the most up to date version of your spreadsheet program.

Fill in the template columns with your item information. When editing the template, keep the following tips in mind:

Don’t change any of the information in the Token column or delete empty columns.

Any changes made to the ‘New Quantity’ column will replace the existing item quantity. If you put a 0 in the ‘New Quantity’ column, your inventory for that item for that location will be set to 0.

Leaving the Category field blank will leave the item as Uncategorized.
* New categories will be created for any new values identified in the Category column.
* Leaving the price field blank or writing “Variable” will create a variable priced item.
* Leaving the modifier field blank will default the modifier to off. Place a “Y” in the appropriate Modifier Set column if you’d like a specific modifier applied to an item.

Note: You can assign a location-specific price, stock count, or availability by setting values in the location specific columns. For example, setting a price in the “Price Location 2” column will assign a price to that location only.

Save the edited Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file to your computer.

Drag and drop the Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file into the upload area or click “select it from your computer” > Upload.

You will be prompted to align Square’s core product attributes to your imported columns from your Excel (.xlsx) or CSV. If you did not change the column names in the file downloaded from Square, the product attributes should be automatically matched. Review the mapping from your file to product attributes and make changes as necessary.

The following columns are required in your Excel (.xlsx) or CSV: Item Name, Variation Name, Description, SKU. If you have more than one location, the Enabled [Location Name] column is also required.

The Tax column also requires a specific heading format. Tax column names must include the tax percentage value in parentheses within the header. For example, “Tax - Sales (7%)”.

Click Confirm to upload your changes.

Note: Once you click Confirm Import, you’re unable to revert back to your previous item library.